It is claimed that an ancient
Mayan calendar mysteriously ends at the winter solstice in the year
2012. Will that mark the end of human history? TV, magazines, booksellers,
dozens of websites and now a major movie production are all fanning
the 2012 craze. Is this a repeat of the Y2K fiasco? Does YEHOVAH's Word
-- the Bible -- reveal what's really coming?

by HOIM Staff

The predictions are of total
devastation where entire cities will be destroyed by gigantic tsunamis, earthquakes
and Category 5 hurricanes -- all occurring at the same time! Meteors will
rain down from the heavens and human history will come to a quick and violent
end.

This hype is based on a mixture
of speculation about the Mayan calendars, the book The Bible Code,
some ancient Eastern prophecies, the writings of Nostradamus and passages
from the New Testament book of Revelation.

While Hollywood special effects
of tsunamis sweeping across the land and skyscrapers toppling into the maelstrom
can be visually spectacular, the answers to our future on this planet CANNOT
be found in speculations about pagan Mayan calendars -- or in the writings
of Nostradamus or self-appointed prophets! The REAL answers to questions about
"the end of the world" are found in the ONLY true source of prophecy
-- the Bible.

December 21, 2012

The date December 21st, 2012
A.D. (13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Long Count), represents an extremely close conjunction
of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator
(Equator of the Milky Way) and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun). This the ancient
Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree. This is an event that has been coming
to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years. It will come
to resolution at exactly 11:11 am GMT.

The
Tzolkin is a 260-day calendar based around the period of human gestation.
It is composed of 20
day-signs, each of which has 13 variations, and was (and still
is) used to determine character traits and time harmonics, in a similar way
to Western astrology. The Maya also used a 365-day calendar called the
Haab, and
a Venus calendar plus others. They measured
long time periods by means of a Long Count in which one 360-day year
(a "Tun"), consists of 18 x 20-day "months" ("Unials").
Twenty of these Tuns is a Katun; 20 Katuns is a Baktun (nearly 400 years);
and 13 Baktuns adds up to a "Great Cycle" of 1,872,000 days, ( 5200
Tuns, or about 5125 years).

Mayan scholars have been attempting to correlate the Long Count with our Western
Gregorian calendar, since the beginning of this century. There has been massive
variations in the suggested
correlations
but as early as 1905, Goodman suggested a correlation only 3 days from the
most popular one today. Known as the GMT
correlation, or "correlation # 584283", this was finalized
in 1950, and puts the start of the Great Cycle (day 0.0.0.0.0) on 11th
August 3114 BC,
and the end-date (known as 13.0.0.0.0.) as 21st
December 2012.

Jose
Arguelles has pointed out that the Tzolkin is a harmonic of the Great
Cycle, and can be used to map history, as if it is measuring not individual
gestation but species gestation, since 5 Great Cycles add to exactly 26,000
Tuns; the "Grand Year" or precession of the equinoxes -- a higher
harmonic of 260.

However,
the astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar
does not end in 2012 at all,
that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer
reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle,
so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer
-- the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over
again.

A common misconception about the Mayan calendar is that it is about “something”,
usually an astronomical event, that will happen “in 2012”. In such a view the
Mayan calendar has
little value
as guidance in the present moment and its use is regarded as
separate
from the actual lives that we live, both as a global collective and as individuals.

The life of the Maya revolved around the concept
of time. Priests were consulted on civil, agricultural and religious matters,
and their advice would be derived from readings of the sacred calendars. Time
was of such importance that children were even named after the date on which
they were born.

Mayan Math

Maya math uses only three symbols -- a shell-shaped
glyph for zero, a dot for one and a bar for five to represent units from zero
to 19. For instance, the number 13 was represented as three dots and two bars.

Zero was an advanced concept in those days,
something that the Romans were not aware of. Yet the Maya were comfortable enough
with it to use a shell as its symbol, a tangible object representing an abstract
concept. The Maya also used metrical calculation and place numeration, which
were very clever for a culture that didn't use the wheel!

Although they had many calendars, they marked
the passage of time with three cycles that ran in parallel.

The Tzolkin

The first is the scared calendar
known as the Tzolkin. It combines the numbers from 1 through 13 with a sequence
of 20 day-names. It works in a similar manner to our named days of the week,
and their date within each month. So you might have 5-Chikchan (like our Sunday
the 5th) followed by 6-Kimi (as we would have Monday the 6th). After 260 days
the same number/name combination will re-occur, and the calendar starts anew.
Their use of the vigesimal (base 20) numbering system probably relates to fingers
and toes, whereas the 13 nicely fits the growth phase of the moon which isn't
visible when new and appears full for two days on end, thus appearing to have
a 13 day growth cycle. Alternatively, the length of the Tzolkin may be related
to the human gestation period of nine months (273 days), as already mentioned.
It has been suggested that 260 days is the time between a woman suspecting her
pregnancy (she doesn't menstruate) and when she gives birth.

The Haab

The second is the agricultural calendar known
as the Haab, or vague year. It consists of 18 months, each of 20 days. An addition
of a five-day month (a period of apprehension and bad luck named Uayeb) gives
us 365 days, an approximation of a year. This calendar's primary purpose was
to keep track of the seasons, for seasonal and solar events would occur on roughly
the same day of each year. The Maya were aware of the annual quarter day discrepancy,
but it is not known if they ever did anything about it.

These two independently running calendars each
begin again every 260 and 360+5 days. However, every 52 years they coincide:

"The Tzolkin and the Haab ran concurrently,
like intermeshed cog-wheels, and to return to any given date, 52 years, or
18,980 days, would have to elapse (because both 365 x 52 and 260 x 73 = 18,980).
In other words, the Tzolkin would make 73 revolutions and the Haab 52, so
that every 52 calendar years of 365 days one would return to the same date.
A complete date in this 52-year cycle might be, for example, 2 1k 0 Pop (2
1k being the position of the day in the Tzolkin, 0 Pop the position in the
Haab). Fifty-two years would pass before another 2 1k 0 Pop date returned.

"It was expected that the world would end at
the completion of a 52-year cycle. At this time, among the Mexica in the Valley
of Mexico, all fires were extinguished, pregnant women were locked up lest
they be turned into wild animals, children were pinched to keep them awake
so that they would not turn into mice, and all pottery was broken in preparation
for the end of the world. In the event the gods decided to grant man another
52 years of life on earth, however, a night time ceremony was held in which
the populace followed the priests through the darkness over a causeway to
the top of an old extinct volcano that rises abruptly from the floor of the
basin of Mexico, known today as the Hill of the Star, the hill above Ixtapalapa.
There, with all eyes on the stars, they awaited the passage of the Pleiades
across the center of the heavens, which would announce the continuation of
the world for another 52 years. When the precise moment came, a victim was
quickly sacrificed by making a single gash in his chest and extracting the
still palpitating heart. In the gory cavity the priests, with a fire drill,
kindled a new flame that was quickly carried by torches across the lake to
the temple in Tenochititlan, and from there to all temples and villages around
the lake. This was known as the New Fire Ceremony among the Mexica, and in
some way this same completion and renewal of each 52-year cycle was recognized
by all Mesoamericans."

This is not unlike how the end of the last millennium
may have felt for many Christians or doomsday cult followers.

Our modern Western calendar was first introduced in Europe in
1582. It was based upon the Gregorian calendar, which calculated the Earth's
orbit to take 365.25 days. This was 0.0003 of a day per year too much,
but still exceptionally accurate for scientists living over 400 years ago.

The Mayan calendars were derived from those
of their predecessors, the Olmec, whose culture dates back at least 3,000 years.
Without the instruments of 16thcentury Europe, these Central American
locals managed to calculate a solar year of 365.2420 days, just 0.0002 of a
day short. More accurate than the Europeans, and much earlier.

The Long Count

A Mayan date utilizes three calendars. The third
calendar, known as the "long count", is a continuous record of days
that starts over every 5000 years or so. The current Long Count began in 3114
BC. And it will end very soon.

A typical Mayan date looks like this:

12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi
4 Zotz

4 Zotz is the Haab date.

3 Cimi is the Tzolkin date.

12.18.16.2.6 is the Long Count date.

The basic unit is the kin (day), which is the
last component of the Long Count. Going from right to left the remaining components
are:

* unial........1 unial = 20 kin = 20 days

* tun..........1 tun = 18 unial = 360 days = approx. 1
year

* katun.......1 katun = 20 tun = 7,200 days = approx.
20 years

* baktun.....1 baktun = 20 katun = 144,000 days = approx.
394 years

The kin, tun, and katun are numbered from 0 to 19.

The unial are numbered from 0 to 17.

The baktun are numbered from 1 to 13.

The Long Count is a great cycle of 13 baktuns
(roughly 5,126 years), where the use of 13 may again represent the growth of
the moon from new to full. The current cycle began on 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku
which correlates to Aug. 13, 3114 BC.

In Mayan mythology each Long Count cycle is
a world age in which the gods attempt to create pious and subservient creatures.

The First Age began with the creation of the
Earth, and it had upon it vegetation and living beings. Unfortunately, because
they lacked speech, the birds and animals were unable to pay homage to the gods
and were destroyed. In the Second and Third Ages the gods created humans of
mud and then wood, but these also failed to please and were wiped out. We are
currently in the Fourth and Final Age, the age of the modern, fully functional
human. So what might occur when the current age finishes on December 21, 2012?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of any great importance!

A Bright Future!

Watching our world teeter on the brink of economic chaos leaves
many people anxious. Nightly news reports of pandemics, the threat of terrorist
attacks within our own country, the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, rogue
nations developing nuclear weapons, religious and racial tensions, and predictions
of environmental disasters are enough to make most of us want to crawl into
a hole and hide from all the bad news!

But we shouldn't despair! The Messiah -- near the end of his
ministry here on earth -- declared that he will return to prepare the way for
YEHOVAH God's return to save humanity from total destruction (Matthew 24:22).
The Bible clearly shows that humanity is NOT going to experience extinction
in 2012 -- or any other year! YEHOVAH God and the Messiah will ultimately rescue
us, and all the 2012 end-time scenarios we are being bombarded with will fail.

Too many other events foretold in Bible prophecy must first
come to pass. The conditions are not quite right yet -- but, we must realize,
they are growing ever closer and will surely come to pass. In fact, there is
much evidence to indicate that we are indeed living in the last days of this
age of human MISRULE under the influence of Satan.

Thankfully, as we have just seen above, the Bible shows that
the Messiah AND YEHOVAH God will return to save humanity from destruction. Between
now and then we can live in hopeful anticipation of that day by getting closer
to our Creator and studying His Word and praying constantly for His return and
deliverance. Through the prophecies of the Bible YEHOVAH God tells us that some
very bad events lie ahead; but the Bible also tells us that a unique and TOTAL
CHANGE of society is coming. YEHOVAH God is returning as Lord of lords and King
of kings to establish His Kingdom on the earth -- ruling from Jerusalem! He
is coming to SAVE the world!

His return will be the beginning of REAL life and prosperity without war, crime,
disease epidemics and hopeless poverty. It will be a time when all people will
know the Creator God and His Messiah, and live according to His laws. A fantastic
future is waiting for humanity!

Hope of Israel Ministries
-- Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God!